Butt-stock for shoulder-arms.



Y T. 0. JOHNSON. BUTT STOCK FOB SHOULDER ARMS.

' APPLICATION FILED MAB. 21, 1912.

1,025,529, Patented May '7, 1912.

. rrnn sainrns THOMAS C. JOHNSON, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS (30., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

BUTT-STOCK FOB SHOULDER-ARMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May '7, 1912.

Application filed March 21, 1912. Serial No. 685,386.

Stccks for Shoulder-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Figure l a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of a buttstock constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. section on verse plan view thereof.

I-Ieretofore buttstocks for shoulder arms have been fashioned from single pieces of hard close-grained wood carefully selected with particular reference to having the grain run parallel with the lower edge or bottom line of the finished stock. In Amer ican practice black walnut has been largely used with some English walnut for guns of the highest grade. Buttstocks so made were satisfactory as long as blackpowders producing low pressures were employed, but with the introduction of smokeless powders producing high pressures and heavier shocks,

split or cracked by the shock of recoil either at the comb or at the grip, or at both the comb and the grip where in one-piece stocks, the grain is presented endwise or in line with the force of recoil.

The object of my invention is to produce a superior buttstock adapted to successfully resist both at the comb and grip portions, the heavy recoils attendant upon the use of smokeless powders.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a buttstock made of a plurality of pieces of wood arranged to present at its comb and grip portions, grain extending across the lines of force of the recoil.

My invention further consists in a butti stock made of a plurality of pieces of wood and having a tang-piece composed of an 2 a view thereof in transverse the line a-b of Fig. 1. Fig. 3: a plan view of the buttstock. Fig. 4 a re-:

' as will be hereinafter described and pointed such one-piece stocks were frequentlyupper and a lower member the grain of the L said upper member extending across the lines of force at the comb and the grain of thesaid lower member extending across the lines of force at the grip, the grain in the' said upper and lower members meeting at an angle along the line of the joint between the two members.

My invention further consists in a buttstock having two vertically arranged cheek pieces and a vertically arranged tang-piece, the former being adhered to the opposite faces of the latter and the latter consisting of an upper and a lower member adhered on a longitudinal line and with the grain of one arranged at an angle to the grain of the other so as to cross the lines of force at the comb of the stock and at the grip of the stock.

My invention further consists in a buttstock made of a plurality of pieces of wood and having certain details of construction out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, my improved buttstock consists of two vertically arranged cheek-pieces 2, 2, corresponding to each other in size and contour, and respectively cemented or in some other way firmly adhered to the opposite faces of a two-part vertically arranged tang piece consisting of an upper member 3 and a lower member 4 having their outer edges shaped according to the fashion of the stock and their inner edges cemented together on a longitudinal line 5 extending throughout the length of the stock. The two cheekpieces 2 are selected as to direction of grain so that in the finished stock the grain in the cheek-pieces will run parallel or substan-- ti ally parallel with its bottom line 6.

The upper member 3 of the-tang-piece comprises the comb 7 so called, of the stock, and is selected as to grain so that at the comb the grain will extend across the lines of force exerted by the recoil following the explosion of a cartridge in the arm. The grain of the upper member 3 of the tangpiece will therefore cross the grain of both of the cheek-pieces 2. I do not prescribe the angle at which the grain of the upper member 3 of the tang-piece shall cross the lines of force of the recoil at the comb 7 nor the angle at which the grain of the upper member 3 shall cross the grain of the cheekpieces 2, but preferably the grain of the upper member 3 of the tang-piece should lie flatwise or substantially flatwise as shown in Fig. l, to the lines of recoll as exerted at the comb 7.

The grip 8, so called, of the stock is included in thesaid lower member l which is selected with reference to having its grain extend across the lines of force exerted by the recoil at the grip. The grain of the said lower member of the tang-piece will therefore cross the grain of the two cheek-' pieces. I do not prescribe the angle at which the grain of the said lower member 4 crosses the grain of the cheek-pieces, nor .the angle at which the grain of the said member lies with respect to the lines of recoil, but preferably the grain of the said member 4 will extend across the lines of re-j coil at about a right angle thereto.

It follows from the foregoing that the grain of the upper member 3 of the tangpiece must stand at an angle with respect to the grain of the lower member at of the tangpiece with an effect of design which may be compared to the so called herringbone de sign. Buttstocks constructed in accordance with my invention are therefore protected by the predetermined arrangement of thegrain of the'wood entering into them from splitting or cracking either at the comb or at the grip. As shown, the said members 3 and 4t are recessed as at 9 and 10 for the reception of the tang which is not shown.

I claim l. A buttstock for shoulder arms comrisin a tan iece made of a luralit of said lower member extending across the lines of force of the recoil at the grip, the grain in the said upper and lower members meeting at an angle along the line of the joint between the two members. 7 i

3. A buttstock for shoulder arms having two vertically arranged cheelcpieces and a vertically arranged tang-piece, the former being adhered to the opposite face of the latter, and the latter consisting of an upper and a lower member adhered on a longitudinal line and with the grain of one arranged at an angle to thegrain of the other so as to cross the lines of force at the comb of the stock and at the grip of the stock.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a compound or built-up buttstock for shoulder arms, consisting of two vertically arranged cheek-pieces and a twopart verticallyarranged tang-piece, the respective cheek- I pieces being cemented to the opposite faces of the two-part tang-piece and selected with reference to having their grain run parallel. with the bottom line of the finished stock, 7

and across the grain of the two parts of the tang-piece, and the grain of'the upperpart or member of the tang-piece extending across the lines of force of the recoil atthe,

comb of the stock, and the grain of. the lower 7 part or member of the tang-piece extending across the lines of force of the recoil at the grip of the stock, and the grain of the upper and lower parts of the tang-piece meeting at an angle along the longitudinal line on which the adjacent edges of the said upperand lower parts of the tang-piece arecemented together.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- 7 ing witnesses.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

\Vitnesses:

DANIEL H. VEADER, FRANK A. PAUL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

